The NCC President, General Secretary and Health Task Force have issued a pastoral letter on the urgent need for healthcare reform in the United States. The Task Force has also posted a primer and backgrounder to help churches work for improved healthcare in the U.S. On Wednesday, August 19, faith leaders will be joined by President Obama in a national call-in to talk about the healthcare issues and explore ways of enhancing their witness to bring about a solution favorable to the needs of all Americans. The NCC's Health Task Force declares: "The National Council of Churches, especially through its Committee on Families and Children, and the Health Task Force, senses that our nation’s cry for dependable, affordable health care for all people is growing in volume and strength.  Like the prophet Habakkuk, we believe we hear God’s injunction to 'write the vision plain...'  In response, we are committed to work for a straightforward approach that honors all persons and is sustainable by both individuals and society." 

Health Care Reform Background

Nearly 50 million Americans are uninsured, tens of millions more are struggling to maintain coverage, and hundreds of thousands suffer from inadequate care.  Americans have been demanding change, sparking a broad national debate.  Leaders in Washington have been responding by negotiating with health providers and suppliers to gain meaningful concessions and drafting legislation that would lay out a broad new approach to health care.  We are closer than ever before to a system of care that will insure all Americans, and yet meaningful health care reform may still slip through our fingers.  Absent strong public support, health care reform may fail to be enacted. 

 Small businesses play an important role in the U.S. economy and are a strong driver of job growth and innovation. But small businesses are severely disadvantaged by the current U.S. health care system relative to their larger counterparts. A new report by the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) examines the challenges faced by smaller firms under the current health care system, and the likely impacts of health care reform on small businesses and the workers they employ. 

 The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) has undertaken a comprehensive analysis of the economic impacts of health care reform. The report provides an overview of current economic impacts of health care in the United States and a forecast of where we are headed in the absence of reform; an analysis of inefficiencies and market failures in the current health care system; a discussion of the key components of health care reform; and an analysis of the economic effects of slowing health care cost growth and expanding coverage.

 In the next couple of months, members of Congress will make a historic decision: whether to vote for or against health care reform.  If a sufficient number vote yes, and current proposals becomes law, roughly 95 percent of Americans will eventually have health insurance.  Because of the hard work of the Christian community and others, we are closer than ever to seeing comprehensive, affordable, high-quality health care available to all Americans.  Together, we can celebrate how far we have come.

Achieving comprehensive health reform has emerged as a leading priority of the President and Congress. This summary of the Senate HELP Committee Affordable Health Choices Act and the House Tri-Committee America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (H.R. 3200) describes the key components of these leading health reform proposals. The House Tri-Committee summary incorporates the major amendments to the legislation adopted by the three committees of jurisdiction during their mark-ups of the bill. These amendments are identified using an abbreviation for the House panel that approved it — “E&C” for the Committee on Energy and Commerce; “E&L” for the Committee on Education and Labor; and “W&M” for the Committee on Ways and Means. 

The health reform debate is in full swing and proposals are taking shape. Even though key 

decisions are still being made, it is clear we have gained significant ground.  

  Nearly 50 million Americans are uninsured, tens of millions more are struggling to maintain coverage, and hundreds of thousands suffer from inadequate care.  Americans have been demanding change, sparking a broad national debate.  Leaders in Washington have been responding by negotiating with health providers and suppliers to gain meaningful concessions and drafting legislation that would lay out a broad new approach to health care.  We are closer than ever before to a system of care that will insure all Americans, and yet meaningful health care reform may still slip through our fingers.  Absent strong public support, health care reform may fail to be enacted.  

                                                                                       -  Eileen W. Lindner & Anastassia Zinke

  Religious voices on health care  by Robert D. Francis

On May 13, I lingered in Upper Senate Park, just north of the U.S. Capitol, hearing New Orleans jazz coming from down Constitution Avenue. Then I saw the brass band leading a lively procession of hundreds of nurses, other medical professionals and patient advocates. It was the National RN Day of Action, a lobby day for several state nurses' associations—among the most ardent proponents of single-payer health care.

  by Gary Dorrien Longtime advocates of single-payer insurance like me are thrilled, anxious and deflated simultaneously by the state of the debate on health-care reform. The debate that we wanted has finally come, and it is coming with a legislative rush, but the plan that we wanted is being excluded from consideration. Should we hold out for the real thing, or get behind the best politically possible thing?